Car-door



(No Model.)

J. SMITH CAR DOOR.

Patented Deo. 7, 18.97.`

WIT/VESSES:

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Armen/frs.

UNITED STATES i EEIOE.

PATENT JOHN M. SMITH, OE vAN WERT, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OE ONE-HALE To JOHNSON B. FLANDEES, OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

CAR-DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent N o. 594,916, dated December 7, 189,7. Application led January 30, 1897. Serial No. 621,306. (No model.)

To all whom it' may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. SMITH, ot' Van Wert, in the county of Van Wert and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Car-Door, of which the ,following is a' full,- clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in car-doors, especially to that class of doors used in freight-cars and which are mounted to slide.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, durable, and economic device, capable of application to any sliding door, which will render the door storm-proof and dusttight and burglar-proof.

Another object of the invention is to construct a door Which will not bind at the bottom and also to mount the locking and sealing devices in such manner that the door may be as readily opened when the sides of the car are bulged or sprung outward by heavy loading as when the car is unloaded.

The invention consists in the novel construction a'nd combination of the several parts, as Will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of that portion of a car at which the door is located, the door being shown closed and a portion broken l away. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken substantially on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 3 8 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2, being drawn upon an enlarged scale and the door being shown open.

A represents a side of a freight-car; B, the door-opening therein; C, the door-jamb,Which is located outside of and substantially opposite the front door-post D, the rear door-post being designated as D. These posts are designated front and .rear, since the door E, which is intended to cover the opening B, is moved from the jamb C when access is to be gained to the interior of the car.

The door E is supported at the top by hangers 10, attached to the door and extending beyond its upper edge, being provided at their upper ends with friction-rollers 11, fitted to travel on a track F, secured to the outer face of the side of the car and extending across the upper portion of the door-opening B, as shown in Fig. 1. The bottom portion of the door is not supported by a track or a beam, as is usual, but depends almost entirely for its support uponv the hangers 10. The door is provided with a bracket 12, attached to door-jamb C, which is horizontally disposed and occupies a position near the front lower end. of the door. The inner end of this bracket, or the end which extends across the door, is curved from said door a predetermined distance in order that the door may readily enter the said bracket and be forced up close to Side of car,- as is clearly shown in Fig. 3.

The heel of the door E when the door is closed and the lower front edge of said door when the door is open are prevented from being swung out too far by attaching a vertically-disposed bracket 13, secured to the side of the car, the said bracket being of angular formation, as is best shown in Fig. 2. This bracket may properly be termed a rest, and

Vthe width of the portion of the bracket which receives the door is of greater width than the thickness of the door in order that the door may be pressed outward to a certain extent.

AAn angle-plate G is employed in connection with the rear door-post D. This angle-plate comprises two members 14 and 15, one being usually at a right angle to thefother. The member 14, which is the body member, is held in engagement with the surface of the rear door-post D facing the door-opening B. This member 14 extends beyond vthe side ofthe car, as shown particularly in Fig. 4, and the member 15 is carried away from the dooropening parallel with the side of the car, a space intervening the member 15 and the side of the car.

` The member 14 of the angle-plate Gr is provided at intervals in its length with depressions 16, suitable recesses 17 being made in the rear door-post D to receive the aforesaid depressed portions of the plate. vIn the botroo or inward when occasion may demand, or, in

other words, to have a given amount of lateral movement.

A wing 2O is hinged to the outer member 15 of the angle-plate, and the said wing is capable of being carried to a position parallel with the side of the car, as shown in Fig. 4, or to a position at a right angle to the side of the v car, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

At a given point in the length ofthe wing 20, ordinarily near the central portion of its outer edge, a lip 21 is formed, the said lip being in a plane with the body of the wing, as shown particularly in Fig. 4, and in this lip an opening 2l is made.

A locking device H is attached to the outer face of the door near its rear edge. This locking device, as illustrated, consists of a bodyplate 22, firmly secured to the door, provided with a keeper-arm 23, which projects beyond the rear edge of the body of the locking device and beyond the rear edge of the door. This keeper-arm has an opening 24 made therein, and the keeper-arm is of such size and of such length that when the win g 2O is carried against the rear edge of the door, the door being closed, the keeper-arm will extend through the opening 2ln in the lip of the said wing.

A latch 25, usually of the gravity pattern, as illustrated, is held to slide on the bodyplate 22 of the locking device. This latch is bent upon itself to form two parallel members, one member, which'is usually the longer one, being held to slide in suitable guides on the body-plate, while the other or shorter member is so disposed that it will enter the opening 24 in the keeper-arm 23 after said arm has been passed through the lip of the wing 20, the shorter arm of the locking device at that time engaging with the outer or rear face of the aforesaid lip, as shown particularly in Figs. l and 3.

The door is prevented from being opened too far by placing a stop 26 a suitable distance from the rear edge of the door, the said stop being secured upon the side of the car, as shown in Fig. l. lVhen the door is closed, the wing 2O is carried at a right angle to the outer member of the angle-plate and to the side of the car-body and is brought in engagement with the rear edge of the car-door, the latch 25 having been raised. Vhen the latch is dropped, it will enter the opening in the keeper-arm 23,which will have passed through the lip 2l of the wing, and by placing a suitable lock at the end of the guided member of the latch the said latch cannot be raised and therefore the door cannot be opened. At the same time thecar is rendered practically burglar-proof, since the door cannot be pried open from the front by reason of its contact wit-h the jamb C, nor can a tool be entered at the rear behind the door, because of the outward extension of the inner member of the angle-plate G and, furthermore, by reason of the wing covering the outer or exposed edge of the door. Again, the wing renders the car dust, cinder,and storm-proof, and in the event the car should be so heavily loaded as to cause its sides to bulge outward the inner member of the angle-plate will move outward a' proportionate distance, thereby preventing the door from being cramped or jammed and admitting of the door being opened as readily under such conditions as when the car is empty.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Let-ters Patent- 1. In car-doors, an angle-plate, one member of which is arranged for attachment to a doorpost, the other member being adapted to extend outward at the side of the car, and a wing having pivotal connection with the outer member of the angle-plate, which wing is adapted to be moved to an engagement with the edge of the car-door which in opening the door moves toward the end of the car, the said wing being also adapted to be carried out of the path of the said car-door, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a car, the combination, witha doorpost, of an angle-plate attached to a surface of the door-post facing the door-opening, one of its members extending outward along the side of the car, and a wing having a pivotal connection with the outwardly extending member of the said angle-plate, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a car, the combination, with a doorpost, of a plate attached to the surface of the post facing the door-opening, the said plate being carried outward beyond the side of the car, a door, and a wing pivotally connected with the outer end of the said plate, being adapted for engagement with an upright edge of the door when the said door is closed, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a car, the combination, with a doorpost, of an angle-plate one member whereof is attached to the surface of the door-post facing the door-opening, the said member so attached having lateral play, the other member of the said plate extending outward along the side of the car, and a wing pivotally connected to the said outer member of the plate, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a car, the combination, with a doorpost, of an angle-plate, one member whereof is attached to the surface of the door-post facing the door-opening, the said member so attached having lateral play and the other member of the said` plate extending along the side of the car, a wing pivotally connected to the said outer member of the plate, asliding door, and a locking device carried by the said door IOO IIO

p Y ww Y v and adapted for engagement with the said and a latch for holding the Wing in connec- Wing, as and for the purpose specified. l tion with the door, the wing being capable of 6. The combination with a door-frame and swinging past one edge of the door. a door sliding by the frame, of an angle-iron JOHN M. SMITH. 5 lying against one side of the door-frame and Witnesses:

held capable of adj nstment toward and from R. M. HOOK, the door, a Wing pivoted to the angle-iron, JNO.'F. CAVITT. 

